Book Reviews: Do This For Me

Do This For Me by Eliza Kennedy, set to be published on 5/15/18, stays true to its title as it follows the life of a demanding woman filling such roles in her life as mother, lawyer, and wife while her world falls apart in response to the discovery of her husband’s infidelity.

Raney Moore, the lead, the fixation of the story, falls far from being either relatable or sympathetic. Under the guise of self discovery she methodical deconstructs her life and the life of those around her into chaos. Whether it’s pushing them into illegal activities for her or completely overturning her work and social life multiple times to the detriment of coworkers, friends, and her children. Furthermore, she undergoes no real or positive development as a character throughout her many self searches and life overhauls. In the beginning Raney is no better than a walking, talking, stone wall of frigid passivity and by the end she only progresses to being an irrational, emotional jerk, hell bent on having as much meaningless sex as possible. Following her through her progressively ridiculous life the reader can only feel frustration towards her and, dare I say, even boredom at having to watch her repeat mistakes without any ground gained towards a positive change.

The theme that was presented in the book’s description was that of humor and comedic effect about married life, all aspects found to be completely lost on the actual page. The reader is left to ask, what about it was aimed to be funny? Was it meant to be the destruction of her family's life in the heat of her vengeful reaction that was supposed to have me clutching my sides with laughter? Was it the half-hearted attempt to fix her marriage? Perhaps it was her sex bender which only alienated her friends and family further as she sought out self gratification that was meant to have me cackling. Maybe it was the staunch, unflappable themes of Social Justice Warrior, feminism that seek to show every male as a Neanderthal and every corporation without exception as sexist. The theme should have been more accurately put as a politically correct drama, having very little to do with marriage and everything to do with the selfish behaviors of a woman in a mid life crisis.

On a positive note to the author, Kennedy’s writing style is both interesting and engaging, despite sometimes deviating to scenes that are unnecessary to both the story and development of characters. The wording is easy to digest and the structure keeps the flow uplifted. As well, her cast of characters are very colorful and vivid, sometimes to an unbelievable point, but intriguing none the less at their core. But the story itself falls flat everywhere else and it is not necessarily her themes that are the problem. A novel focusing on feminist issues in the workplace or about the ups and down of marriage and separation can be very interesting topics, but cannot attain a persistent interest in the reader if the main character is unrelatable.

A just as relevant problem for this novel as well, is that the reader cannot feel that anything has been accomplished throughout or by the end; her family is still in pieces and she has made no commitment to fixing her marriage, nor made a commitment to make things work with her boyfriend, both men being led along by maybes and false hope. She stays in the same job, with very minute changes having been made to its operations, and her children still seem to be a secondary aspect to her as a character. But she found out how to enjoy sex, so I suppose we should all be happy for her, right? Right?

I give this story a hard "Pass". I’m certain this book is right for someone out there, but the audience it is geared towards is simply middle aged feminists in crisis. Outside of this demographic “Do This For Me” is nearly impossible enjoy.

~Revaliciousness